Sitting in Australia

Can anyone advise where I’m best looking for sits in australia?
My brother lives in Sydney wirh his family and in order for it to be financially viable for a family of 4 to visit we have to house sit! I’ve not had much luck on ths as the dates we are looking for are also quite specific (school holidays)
Really appreciate any recommendations of how to make it happen for us! Thanks.

Have you tried Aussie pet sit sites like Aussie House Sitters? You might have better luck there - check out these threads:

Other House Sit Sites

Applying for Australian sitsA

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@catscatscats24

Aussie house sitters is worth a punt, It is not too expensive to join ( someone on this group may have a referral code the will get you a small discount too) , plus as that site is Oz specific its a great option .

However, a word of caution - The less flexibility you have with dates, the less likely you are to nab a sit so you may find it difficult on Aussie sitters too, if the dates you are looking for are fixed

Good Luck!

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Try Aussie House Sitters.

You could also look at home exchange websites @catscatscats24 if it’s for school holidays. Some friends of ours in Ballnarring, Vic always do well with swaps and they have 4 kids to accommodate. #mightbeworthalook

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To increase your chances, and if you aren’t applying for any other sits at the moment, why not tweak your profile temporarily, so that you mention your plans to visit your brother who lives in Sydney in 2025, so that you catch an owners attention, instead of perhaps some owners just seeing your beautiful kids and perhaps ruling you out straight away.

We don’t have kids, but there are two particular areas of two countries where we sit to be close to family. I actually mention the two areas in both the ‘experience’ part… because I want to catch their attention plus it’s the first thing an owner sees, as well as the ‘about us’ part. In both cases I put it within the first 2-3 lines. Even though to begin with, we had no pet experience linked to one of the countries at all, but then I dive straight into our experience after that.

Some owners will really like the fact they get to help you to see your family at the same time, they get to feel like they are doing a beautifully kind deed, which they don’t necessarily get to feel with other sitters, so it could potentially put you one step ahead of some other sitters, you never know.

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Hi there, Australian sitters/home owners here. Sydney is a high demand city, like London & New York so there will be lots of competition for sits there. Maybe try widening your search area
for sits up to about 2 hours outside Sydney like the Central Coast/Newcastle to the north, Wollongong to the south, Blue Moutains to the west. They all have great public transport options to Sydney for day trips. While Sydney has the iconic sites like the opera house & bridge, it’s very touristy & priced accordingly. You will get to see more of the “real” Australia outside of Sydney.

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Hi all, here I am on my 3rd Aussie Perth sit. It all worked out ok in the end. But yes I set up an alert for Perth Australia and I favourite any and all suitable sits in WA. I now get immediate notifications for any sit, but even when I click within a minute of seeing it there will often be 4 applicants already listed so I think it’s high demand here too.

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Hello, an Aussie here, I used Aussie Housesitters for many years as an home owner to great success so I can highly recommend that site if you’re not having much luck finding something on THS.

As an observation, I find Aussies tend to post their dates closer to the time rather than further from the time so you still may have some luck of acquiring a sit. As already mentioned, widen your search to areas out of the city.

How long do you plan on coming over for?
Are you interested in sits in other states?
Are you familiar with couchsurfing?

My very first couchsurf guests were a family of 5. This family have travelled ALL OVER THE WORLD, using couchsurfing for cultural exchange and free accomodation. I know they would be more than happy to give you advice on traveling with a family so if you are interested I will send you their details so you can learn how to travel very cost effectively with a family.

Good luck :cowboy_hat_face:

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Can anyone please tell me that my fear of going to Australia, mostly because I imagine there are spiders everywhere, is totally nonsense or is it just like that? :flushed::grimacing:

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Do not let spiders deter you from visiting our amazing country @Fatamorgana. They definitely are not everywhere and it’s likely you won’t even see one, depending on where you visit. The same goes for snakes! COME ON DOWN! :person_raising_hand:

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I have a membership with Aussie House Sitters and yes there is a discount of $10AUD offered if someone joins under a referral.
There are plenty of sits advertised daily especially Sydney. However, the site does not have a forum like this one though.
There is a membership fee each year for house sitters (free for homeowners). At first, I was worried about dodgy advertisements and spending more time having to clean someone’s house but all the sits I have undertaken have been advertised by honest homeowners that clean their homes prior to our arrival & even leave us some goodies or welcomes us to use food in the pantry! I think I have had more luck utilizing Aussie housesitters for family friendly sits.

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Not many spiders unless you do a house sit out in the bush or in a remote part of Australia.

Thank you. I’m definitely going to look into this

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I’m terrified of spiders but I managed. My brother does sometimes send me photos of giants they find in their Sydney flat but I imagine whether we house sit or pay, I will be introducing myself to the neighbours and explaining if they hear screaming, it’s a spider, and they must come and help immediately!

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That would be great, thank you.

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How long we come for really depends on my brother, and my youngest sons school dates. Ideally no less than 3 weeks. I’d love to visit Tasmania as well but think that’s unlikely to happen given time constraints and budget.
We would definately visit the blue mountains, and hopefully areas around Sydney. But we would be coming in your winter if it happens, so not really sure

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Thank you, I will do this once I’m sure we are going. It’s a good idea

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I struggle with home exchange websites a bit- I think cos ours is a proper lived in family home and the houses I’ve seen in rhe past are properly shiny!
Also, no one wants to swap their Sydney villa for a semi detached in sheffield :joy:

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Come on, the friendliest city in the UK. Everyone loves a bit of Sheff :raised_hands: I get it, someone suggested looking for sits further out, in places like the Blue Mountains and then train into the centre, that seems like great advice. #tembatips

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